RUGBY WRAP: Boks collect first win on tour; England and ABs draw Twickenham thriller and Georgia stun Wales

Boks smash Italy in Genoa

The Springboks scored nine tries as they put Italy to the sword in a comprehensive 63-21 victory at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Saturday. The win is the Boks’ first this month after back-to-back losses to Ireland and France and tees them up nicely for their final Test of the season against England at Twickenham this weekend.

The tourists headed into the break with a slender 18-13 lead but upped the ante in the second half, with the likes of Willie Le Roux and Kurt-Lee Arendse coming to the fore in a big way. Replacement flyhalf Manie Libbok was also a standout as the world champions put on a real show, capitalising on some leaky Italian defence to score some beauties. 

England seal late draw against All Blacks

England scored three tries in the final nine minutes to snatch a 25-25 draw with New Zealand at Twickenham. In what was the first meeting between the sides since the infamous 2019 World Cup semi-final, Ian Foster’s men raced into a 14-0 lead inside the opening 10 minutes after a number of unforced errors from the hosts put the Kiwis on the front foot.

It looked as though the men in black would take it comfortably for a long time, but the Roses fought back hard and scored late on through Freddie Steward and twice through replacement prop Will Stuart to earn a thrilling draw in the end.

Georgia make history in Cardiff

Georgia shocked a second-string Wales outfit 13-12 at the Principality on Saturday for the greatest result in their history. The win was the Borjgalosnebi’s first over a Tier 1 nation, while it also condemned Wayne Pivac’s charges to an eighth defeat in 11 Tests this year.

In other results, Scotland beat 14-man Argentina 52-29 at Murrayfield, Ireland held off Australia 13-10 at the Aviva, and France outclassed Japan 35-17 in Toulouse for a 13th-straight win.